UCR works to create medical school

RIVERSIDE —— UC Riverside is a step closer to producing more
doctors for the region. Campus officials have tapped Robert Grey,
former provost and executive vice chancellor at UC Davis, to help
lead the charge for expanding the university's two-year biomedical
sciences program into a full-fledged medical school.

Grey will work with campus officials and faculty in determining
what kind of medical school is best-suited for the Inland Empire.
Grey also will identify funding for the project and attempt to
establish residency programs with local hospitals.

"There is in general a shortage of physicians in certain
specialty areas," Grey said about Riverside and San Bernardino
counties, adding that the medical school would increase the number
of doctors in the area.

Officials with hospitals serving Southwest County said they were
pleased to hear the news.

UC Riverside has "a long-standing tradition of providing and
training excellent physicians and, if we are approached about a
residency program, we will definitely explore the options to
support that," said Teresa Fleege, spokeswoman for Rancho Springs
Medical Center in Murrieta and the Inland Valley Medical Center in
Wildomar.

As for when the school would be built, or how much it would cost
to construct and open, Grey, who started his job last week, said,
"I just can't tell at this point."

The UC system's regents and state education officials must sign
off on the endeavor, he said. In general, the state's medical
schools operate from a variety of funding sources, and Grey said he
must determine how much UC Riverside's project would cost.

"In the three smaller medical schools in the UC (system), the
state contribution is on the order of $30 million annually," Grey
said. "But to operate the medical school will take a lot more than
that."

During the next year, Grey will lead the effort to develop the
medical school's overall plan so the university can make its
proposal to the regents and state officials, he said.

Basically, the project means expanding the two-year biomedical
sciences program into a four-year medical school and creating the
facilities for it. Now, the university transfers its medical
students to UCLA to finish their final two years of education.

If the school is built, it will a blessing for students already
attending UC Riverside, said Darwin Viernes, 22, a second-year
medical student who plans to transfer to UCLA next semester.

"It would be a lot more convenient, because you wouldn't have to
go out there and look for a place," he said of the west Los Angeles
area, where UCLA is located. "It takes time and money to go out
there. And especially in West LA … (rent) almost doubles."

As for earning a degree from UC Riverside as opposed to UCLA,
Viernes said he doesn't see a problem.

"In the national scene, people don't see (UC Riverside) as a
really good school, but it actually is," he said. "It's well-known
for its science (achievements). Having a med school would put UCR
on the map. … Eventually, as it progresses in terms of curriculum,
it would be one of the major players."

In addition to working on the medical school effort, Grey will
assist campus officials in developing a Health Sciences Research
Institute for the university. The institute would centralize campus
research in such areas as nanotechnology and genomics, said Kris
Lovekin, campus spokeswoman.

And, the university has its sites set on some of the funding
created when Proposition 71 passed last fall, Lovekin said. That
measure will raise about $3 billion for state-directed stem cell
research by selling general obligation bonds.